WATCH LIVE STREAM HERE: https://youtu.be/1BPzeNSGsdI

Carles Puigdemont, exiled former Catalan leader and mastermind of the controversial 2017 independence referendum joins us for an hour at the Frontline Cub to explain the Catalan crisis and answer press and audience questions.

Just over two months ago over a million Catalonians took to the streets of Barcelona calling for independence and the release of their imprisoned separatist leaders. 

Nine leading separatist politicians have been in Spanish prisons for twelve months and they face trial in the new year on charges of rebellion and sedition. 

The prosecution is asking for prison sentences of up to 25 years. This week, four of these prisoners announced that they were starting a hunger strike to draw attention to their plight. 

Those Catalans separatist leaders who are not awaiting trial in the Spanish courts are living in exile in Scotland, Belgium and Switzerland. 

The Madrid Government has remained opposed to a binding self-determination referendum, and has so far declined to negotiate over the fate of the political prisoners. 

The entire independence movement is now rethinking its strategy as Spain’s new socialist government makes cautious offers of limited talks. Perhaps there is greater hope for a solution to the crisis.

In this timely visit to London we will ask Carles Puigdemont what he thinks the future holds for Catalonia.

photograph courtesy of Thierry Ehrmann via Creative Commons

  Watch the video stream of In Conversation: Carles Puigdemont

Chair

Tom Burridge was the BBC Spain correspondent before recently moving back to London. He has been in Barcelona covering the referendum since the events began. Tom has worked as a correspondent for the BBC across Europe and Africa. Before this he was based in the Ukraine, and covered the war in Donbass in 2014.

Speakers

Professor Paul Preston is the Director of Cañada Blanch Centre at the Department of International History LSE. His main fields of interests are Anglo-Spanish relations; contemporary Spanish politics; defence policy; European fascism; European left; Gibraltar; Spain; Spanish army; Spanish history, the Spanish Civil War, the Franco Regime, the transition to democracy in Spain. Paul Preston studied for his undergraduate degree at the Oriel College, Oxford before moving to the University of Reading where he gained his MA in European Studies. He moved back to Oriel College to work on his PhD.

John Carlin is a journalist and writer who deals with both sports and politics among other things. Carlin began his career writing in Mexico and Central America for publications such as The Times, The Sunday Times and The Toronto Star. From 1995–1998 he was the United States bureau chief for The Independent on Sunday. In August 2008, Carlin published the book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation. Carlin won the 2000 El País Ortega y Gasset Award for journalism. He has won numerous other awards for his writing in Spain and Italy.

Raphael Minder (Skype)  has been based in Madrid as the Spain and Portugal correspondent for The New York Times since April 2010. He has written extensively on the financial crisis’ impact on Spain and Portugal and the resulting political tensions, including the secessionist drive in Catalonia. He has just published a book The Struggle for Catalonia. Rebel Politics in Spain.   Before this, Raphael spent ten years as a staff correspondent for the Financial Times in Paris, Brussels, Sydney and finally Hong Kong, as regional correspondent for Asia.

Professor Mireia Jofre-Bonet is Director of the MSc in Health Economics and the MSc in Economic Evaluation in Healthcare at City, University of London. She is a Senior Associated Researcher at LSE Health (London School of Economics and Political Sciences) and belongs to the London International Development Centre. Prior to joining City, Professor Jofre-Bonet was a Lecturer at LSHTM, a Research Faculty member at the School of Public Health at Yale University, and taught at the Departments of Economics at the London School of Economics and at Yale University.